🗣️ Use AI for simulated conversations with anyone

⭐️Showcase achievement with Wakelet student portfolios⭐️

Using Wakelet for student portfolios is easy. Teachers can guide students in creating their own Wakelet profiles or accounts to curate their work. Students can organize their portfolios into sections and collections, making it easy to navigate and present their achievements effectively!

😬 Students and teachers can create their own free Wakelet accounts. But schools don't have easy control of assignments and collaboration.

🚀But if you upgrade your plan, you'll be able to manage your classes and assignments -- and even let students take their portfolios with them after they graduate. (Because if they can't, they're missing out on potential career-changing impact.)

🆙 Upgrading your school/district Wakelet plan is easy. Here's how:

• Email Ryan McGinnis ([email protected])

• Tell him you'd like information about a student portfolio pilot. It’s only $2 per student!

• Ask for the "Ditch That Textbook" special for a deal! 

💡 THE BIG IDEA 💡

🗣Simulate epic conversations with anyone using AI!

What if you could have a simulated conversation with a historical figure? Or talk to a famous sports player you admire? Or even ask a burning question of a character from a book you’re reading? You can do all that and more with AI.

💡 How to create simulated conversations with AI

• Pick an AI assistant like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Bard, or Anthropic's Claude. (Or, even better: try the same prompts on several of these at once and choose your favorite based on the results.)

• Prompt it to take the persona of a character you've been studying.

  Some ideas:

  • Book characters (from children's books to classic novels)

  • Characters from short stories or poetry

  • Historical characters

  • People in current events or the news

• Then, give it a prompt. Here are some things to consider when writing the prompt:

  • Define the character: Provide information about the characters you want to simulate a conversation with. Include details like their personalities, backgrounds, and any specific traits or characteristics you want to highlight.

  • Set the scene: Describe the setting or context for the conversation. This could be a specific moment from a book, a historical event, or an entirely new scenario you want to explore.

  • Provide conversation framework: Specify any certain way you want the characters to respond, topics to avoid, things to emphasize, communication tone to use, etc.

💭Example prompt

Here's an example you could use as a starting point. (Change text in bold to customize it to your unique needs.)

I'd like you to assume the voice and personality of Theodore Roosevelt, the former president of the United States. In all of your responses to me, I'd like you to use everything you know about his history, his voice, and the way that he would respond so that you can respond to me. Do you understand?

🎓How can we use this idea in the classroom?

• Play "Would They Really Say That?": Interact back and forth with a simulated character. Then, individually (or in small groups or as a class), analyze whether the character would actually say what they AI said they would say. Back it up with what you've learned about the character.

• Ask questions about events you've studied: These could be events you read about in a book or historical events you've studied. Ask the character what they thought about those events or for additional details that weren't in your source texts (the novel, history textbooks, etc.).

• Ask questions about current topics: If the character was there with you right now, what would they say about the way the world is now? Or how a character in a different book handled their business? Ask the character their opinion about things affecting us now.

• Ask for a different ending: Whether in history or in literature, the character's story ended a certain way. Ask the character what they think would have happened if they had chosen a different route -- or acted differently -- or said something different.

• Build on the conversation: Students can take the generated text and expand on the dialogue themselves, adding to them or creating their own narratives based on the characters and scenarios provided.

• Debate the character: Students could debate back and forth with the simulated character, taking one side of a debate while the character takes another.

• Simulated interactions between characters: Prompt the AI to create a conversation between two literary/historical characters.

• Collaborate with the character: After establishing a character with an AI tool, the student could collaborate with the character to do a group project. Instead of pairing students together to do a project, have the student's partner be a character.

🔗 Learn more

Get in-depth prompting tips and examples along with more ideas for how to use this strategy in the classroom in our new post. Classroom AI 101: Simulate conversations with characters using AI

🎯  QUICK TEACHING STRATEGY  

⚡️Lightning fast formative assessment

Often students leave our classrooms and as we walk around we notice that instead of doodling on paper they have been doodling (or worse) ON the desks!

Maybe they’re bored and don’t have any paper. Or perhaps they just wanted to draw on something they weren’t supposed to.

What if we turned it around and ASKED them to write on the desk?

Somehow a blank desk and whiteboard markers turn the same boring assignment into a fun task!

And it’s SO easy to do. Here’s how:

🖊Just give each student a whiteboard marker and a tissue or paper towel as an eraser.

🤔Ask them to show you what they know about the topic you just studied by writing or drawing on their desk.

🚶🏽Use it as a gallery walk prompt and have students rotate around the room viewing each others’ responses.

🔗 Looking for more simple, tech-free formative assessment ideas? Check out our post Fun formative assessment: 12 easy, no-tech ideas you can use tomorrow

👋 How we can help

There are even more ways I can support you in the important work you do in education:

1. Read one of my six books about meaningful teaching with tech.

2. Take one of our online courses about practical and popular topics in education.

3. Bring me to your school, district or event to speak. I love working with educators!